Avenge Me
by Jeice Lover
Summary: A story in which there is a neat arena, spectral energy, snappy comebacks, and perhaps an awesome fight... Maybe.


Max had to struggle to stare with an equal amount of intensity that Isabel was giving him, even though her eyes were half-closed. She was gripping his hand tightly as her gaze seemed to bore through his very soul.

"Max… come closer. There's something… I need to tell you," she murmured. He pressed his face closer: one because she asked him to, and secondly he could hardly hear her anyways at the volume she was speaking, so it was kind of a necessity to make out what she was saying. "This lady you're about to fight… she's bad, real bad. You'll need to give it your a-game if you want to beat her, understand? Can you do this? Will you do this for me?"

"Yeah… I will," he responded slowly.

"… Thank you," she sighed as she closed her eyes. "Avenge me, Max… avenge me…." Her final two words died out in a hiss of breath as her hands remained on his, but their grip loosened until it was nothing.

"…Uh, yeah, but, it's gonna be kinda' hard for me to go 'avenging' anyone if you won't let go of me first, Isabel," he said, moving his hand that was still being held by hers. Isabel snapped her eyes open and quickly drew her hands back.

"Whoops, yeah, I guess I do. Sorry, dude," she apologized. Max only grunted as he stepped back from where Isabel was sitting on the bench at the sidelines of the 'arena' of her grandpa's dojo. The old master himself had been there the whole time, and had been giving the two of them odd looks as their scene had played itself out. "But anyways, yeah. She kicked my butt a while ago, and I really kinda want you to kick her butt for me to get her back."

"Um… you sure about that, Isabel?" Max asked. "I mean… I'm still pretty new with this 'Spectral Fist' stuff of your grandpa's, and you said she's pretty good at it. I'd rather not spend my evening with my face shoved into the dirt."

"Oh, you'll be fine," Isabel assured him with a wave of the hand. "Now you get in that ring, throw some fists and spec shots around, and show her who's boss!" She pumped her fist for emphasis, but only received a usual deadpan look from Max.

"Uh yeah, alright, if you say so. But if this ends up turning out the way I think it will, please use a soft mop for when you're cleaning me off of the floor," he groaned. He turned and walked towards the 'arena', with Isabel's cries of 'avenge me' in his ears.

"…And just how much of a chance to you think your friend has against one of my star pupils, Isabel?" her grandfather grumbled curiously at her.

"None of your business, grandpa," Isabel replied without missing a beat of her cheering arm-waves. "I just wanted to try to psych him up so he won't give up without even trying.

"Hmph."

Max scrunched his shoulders up nervously as he stepped into the 'arena'. Really it was just a large area filled with chest-high grass blades, and the odd tree near the sides. He had done some exercises here with Isabel before, but this was his first time actually fighting someone else besides Isabel when they were doing practice spars. The woman he was supposed to be facing was standing there already, smirking and cracking her knuckles.

"What's this? She's too scared for a rematch herself, so she sent her boyfriend out here to fight me for her? I would have expected better from the master's granddaughter," she said derisively.

"First off, I think you must be someone with a tendency to take gigantic leaps, because that conclusion you just came to about me being her boyfriend is pretty far off the mark," Max started off. "And second, I think it's really unfair to be judging a person based on their lineage alone, as the things from the past aren't necessarily an indicator of-"

"The match will be a simple one!" Isabel's grandfather bellowed out, cutting off Max's drawn-out ramble. "Both opponents will face off against one another with bare fists and feet only. No weapons may be used in this combat. The first to be hit with a compression projectile burst shot, or threatened with such, will lose. If you are to step outside of the combat arena, you will lose." The tall man put his hand up in the air, staring intensely at the two opponents-to-be. "Ready…"

"Kick her butt, Max!" Isabel shouted as a way of encouragement.

"I'd like to see you try, kid," the spiky-haired woman sneered.

"Um, is it too late to-"

"Fight!" Master Guerra brought his hand chopping down through the air, and the woman lunged at Max with the agility of a cat. It was only through his own quick reflexes that Max was able to avoid a solid kick to the sternum.

"Oh! He's actually got some fight in him!" His opponent laughed. "Come on, kid, show me what you've got!" She lunged again and again, but Max just kept on dodging and side-stepping her at every attempted hit.

"Come on, Max! Fight back! Land a hit on her!" Isabel shouted from her seat.

"Easy! For! You! To! Say!" Max managed to shout each word as he avoided a hit from a fist or a foot.

"Dance, puppet, dance!" His opponent jeered mockingly at him. "Is this really the best you've got?! I knew it! You're just as useless as she is at fighting!" While the insult directed at Max himself wasn't particularly scathing, the way she was speaking of Isabel caused something to click inside of him. Eyes narrowed, Max turned on his heel, and a glow of purplish energy formed on his fingetips. His opponent gasped, and it was only the pull of gravity and a quick turn of the head that she managed to avoid getting hit with the Spec Shot that was fired at her. Instead, it missed in a close shave, barely shaving at the tips of her hair.

Both opponents stood in the grass a moment, both filled with equal amounts of surprise. Even Isabel and her grandfather were speechless on the sidelines. However, the momentary stalemate was broken when the black-haired woman lunged at Max again, and he took off running at a sprint.

"Where're you going, you little runt?!" she yelled after him as they zipped through the grass. "The fight's just getting good! You can't just leave me hanging now!"

"Come on, Max!" Isabel shouted from her bench. "You almost had her! Quit running and fight back already!"

"Why don't you get out here and fight her then?!" Max yelled in response. He yelped when he realized that the woman was hot on his heels, fists ready to beat into his soft flesh. "N-now, listen!" he tried saying as he turned on his heel to narrowly avoid a fist to the solar plexus. "I know that some philosopher dude said that talking is what separated us from the animals! So maybe it's not too late to talk this whole thing over, you know?! Maybe if you just stopped trying to harshly place your hands and feet against my body we could have a seat and-!"

"Keep talking, kid! Makes you an easier target!" His opponent laughed as she lunged again. Max took off running again, zig-zagging across the yard in his attempts to avoid the pain that she was promising.

Aw geez, she's almost more persistent than Johnny! Max cursed in his mind. Gotta find some way to throw her off, and fast! He glanced around the yard as he ran, trying to find someplace to catch a break without leaving the arena. At last, his eyes focused on one of the tall, leafless trees that was growing up around the yard. He veered a sharp right and changed his course, running directly at the wooden trunk.

"What're you doing now, going to climb that tree to get away from me?!" She laughed behind him as her hand curled into a fist. "Well, too late, kid! You're all mine now! Now you just get back here nice and slow so I can aim a burst shot in your face and we can call this match-" Her declaration of her impending victory was halted before the end when they made it to the tree Max had been aiming for.

Calling upon all of his years of skill in parkour, Max jumped up just a couple of feet before the tree, launching him just high enough to land his foot against the trunk. Then he shot up his other foot before gravity could take over, and pushed on that one with just enough force to send him backflipping over his pursuer's shocked head.

"What the-?" Even before she could turn around, Max had already landed on the balls of his feet in the grass behind her. With barely a thought in his head, he used the last of his momentum in his landing, and propelled himself right at her. He braced his arms just before they made impact with her back, sending her into a face-first slam against the ridged trunk of the tree. Max hopped back as she sunk to the ground, groaning and clutching her face, and her very-likely broken nose. "Ow! Geez, kid! What the flip is the matter with you?! Who fights by slamming peoples faces into trees like-" She froze, interrupted once more when a purplish light shone in her face. She turned, only to be met with the sight of Max aiming a Spec Shot right in her face.

"Um… checkmate?" he said uncertainly, more question than statement. He was honestly just as shocked as she was.

"The match has been won," Isabel's grandfather boomed out once more. "The winner is… Isabel's friend," he finished much less grandly.

Huh, well… that was surprisingly less riddled with pain than he had thought it would be. Not that he was slamming her into a tree thing had been him running completely on instinct and not planned at all. Still, a win was a win… wasn't it?

"Max!" He had no time to dwell, though, because Isabel came at him from the side and tacked him in a hug, causing him to drop the Spec Shot and let it gloop onto the ground like some sort of gelatinous egg yolk. "That was so awesome! I knew you could kick her butt! You have successfully avenged me!" She pointed at the losing party and laughed triumphantly, even though the other only turned away and grumbled, still holding her bleeding nose. "So, how did it feel winning your first match?" she asked, much more calmly.

"Well, I wasn't ground into a bloody pulp in the grass," Max shrugged. "So, I guess that's something."

"Right on," Isabel nodded. She grabbed him around the shoulders, yanking him closer. "Come on, let's get you some of that good old hydration!"

"Yeah… sounds good."


End file.
